Fastening or chair for rails



(No'ModeL) G. GRAY.

FASTENING OR CHAIR FOR RAILS. No. 262,404. Patented Aug. 8, 1882..

Wi NE55E5 INVENfi-U lii mw g 1 n Wm ilNiTE STATES mes.

ATENT GORHAM GRAY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,404, dated August8, 1882.

Application filed December 22, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GoRHAM GRAY, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State ofMassachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fastenings orOhairs, ofwhich the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to a fastening or chair for rails, it consistingessentially of a piece of iron, steel, or other suitable material havingprongs to be driven into the sleeper, so as to lie horizontally beneaththe rail, the said prongs extending from a bridge-like portionconnecting them, and adapted to bear upon the head of the usualfastening-spike, which has been driven previous to the insertion of thesaid prongs. The weight of the rail and load supported on it thus bearsdirectly upon the upper surface of the said prongs, and is transmittedtherefrom through the bridge-like portion to the head of the spike, sothat the said load tends to sink the spike more deeply into the sleeperinstead of depressing the rail below the head of the spike in the usualmanner, and thus permitting the rail, when the load passes off from it,to react upward on the spike and tend to withdraw or loosen it.

A chair of this nature may be used in connection with spikes of commonconstruction; but will preferably be employed in combination with aspike made of a bar of metal having fluted or concaved sides to producesalient edges, its lower portion being twisted to make the said edgesspiral or helical, so that as the nail is driven it rotates, and cannotbe withdrawn without a reverse rotation. The spike has a round headprojecting equally on all sides of it, and the shank or body of thespike is not twisted for a short distance beneath the said head, whichis made to co-operate with certain portions of the before-mentionedchair, as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure l is a sectional view of a rail fastened to the sleeperinaccordance with this invention; Fig. 2, a perspective view of one of thefastening-chairs on a larger scale; and Fig. 3 a side elevation of oneof the spikes, such as are preferably employed in carrying out thisinvention. 4

The rail a is supported upon the sleeper b, and fastened thereto by aspike, 0, the head of which overlaps the flange of the rail in the (Nomodel.)

usual manner. As herein shown, the spike a (see Fig. 3) consists of abar of metal having its sides fluted, as shown at 3, so as to leavesalient edges 4', the lower portion of the said bar which enters thesleeper being twisted, as shown, and provided with a V- shaped orchisel-like point, 5. The bar is not twisted for a short distancebeneath its head, which is round, and projects equally from all sides ofthe bar, so that it will engage the flange of the rail at whatever anglethe spike may be presented thereto. The chisel-point 5 of the spike is,however, made parallel with the sides of the upper untwisted portionbeneath the head, which is of such length that when the spike is startedwith its edge 5 parallel with the rail the head will engage the flangeof the rail when one of the faces of the upper portion of the spike isparallel with the said rail, as shown in Fig. 1.

The chair d (shown in Fig. 2) consists of a bridge-like portion, 7,having two prongs or pointed wings, 8, which, when their points areinserted beneath the flange of the rail and the chair is driven towardthe rail, will become embedded in the wood of the sleeper, as shown bythe dotted line, Fig. 1. The upper face of the prongs 8 will then liebeneath the rail, the said prongs or wings being recessed, as shown at9, Fig. 2, beneath the bridge portion 7 to receive the flange of therail. When the chair dis driven into place, with its prongs 8 embeddedin the sleeper beneaththe rail, the bridge portion 7 will rest upon thehead of the spike o, as shown in Fig.1, the said head heing of properwidth to just fit between the pointed wings 8. A downward projection,10, (see Fig. 1,) at the rear side of the bridge portion 7 of the chair,by its engagement with the head of the spike, forces the said head laterally over the edge of the rail-flange if the shank portion of the spikebe not already in contact with the said flange.

It will be evident (referring to Fig. 1) that the downward pressure ofthe train passing over the rail 0. will be received upon the prongs 8,and transmitted therefrom through the bridge portion 7 of the chair atto the head 6 of the spike a, and that by means of the said spike andchair the rail and sleeper are positively locked together.

In practice one of these fastenings will be used at each side of therail on each sleeper, as is the case with the spikes now commonly inuse.

I claim 1. A fastening or chair for rails, consisting of prongs orpointed wings adapted to be embedded in the sleeper beneath the rail,and a bridge-like portion connecting the said wings and adapted to reston the head of the railfa stening spike, whereby downward pressure onthe rail is transmitted to the spike, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

2. In a fastening or chair, the combination of the prongs adapted to bedriven into the sleeper beneath the rail, the bridge portion arranged,as described, to rest on the top of the spike, and the projection 10thereon for engaging the head of the spike and forcing it laterally overthe flange of the rail, substantiall y as described.

3. In a fastening for railway-rails, the fastening-spike 0, having itslower portion fluted, spirally twisted, and provided with a chiseledge,and having its upper end untwisted and provided with a head projectingon all sides, combined with the chair d, having prongs and a connectingbridge-like portion provided with a projection, 10, as described, thesaid prongs being adapted to pass beneath the rail, and the bridge-likeportion being adapted to rest upon the head of the spike and overlap theflange of the rail, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

GORHAM GRAY.

Witnesses:

Joe. P. LIVERMORE, B. J. NoYEs.

